


Mementos

by mermaidchan05



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:40:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21664078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mermaidchan05/pseuds/mermaidchan05
Summary: Akira and Shiho visit Tokyo as a little Christmas surprise for Ann, Makoto, and the rest of the gang, only to get distracted by a strange new shop tucked in an alley... a shop decked out all in black and red.
Relationships: Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto
Comments: 3
Kudos: 32





	Mementos

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the idea that Akira ended up in the same school as Shiho after the events of the game, and my sister's love for Akira/Makoto. 
> 
> This story was originally a Christmas present for her last year! I got special permission from my sister to share it with all of you! Hope you enjoy!

Akira automatically pulled the hood of his sweater further over his head. Even though it had started to snow, the act had nothing to do with the cold. He knew it wasn’t true, by any technicality, but he couldn’t help but remember. Couldn’t help but act on that gut feeling, on all the memories that just being here pulled up.

Essentially, the last time he’d been here in winter he had been dead. 

If Shiho or Morgana noticed anything was wrong, they didn’t comment. Akira glanced up at them through his utterly useless glasses. He just wasn’t able to resist putting them on. Another force of habit. Anyway, Shiho was still absorbed in her phone, and Morgana was asleep in Akira’s backpack. So, in the end, they definitely didn’t notice.

Akira didn’t know if that made him feel relieved or not. 

At last, the light changed and they were allowed to cross the street. Shiho somehow managed to do it without even looking up from her phone. 

“Please tell me you’re not texting Ann,” Akira muttered. His breath fogged in front of him. 

Shiho laughed. “I’m totally texting Ann.”

“Shiho!”

“I have to keep her off our trail!” Shiho said with a bright smile. “At the moment I’m telling her how bored we are sitting around my parents’ place.” 

Akira couldn’t help but laugh, too. “You are absolutely despicable.” 

“Coming from you, I take that as a compliment,” Shiho said lightly. 

Akira shook his head, amused… and stopped in his tracks. 

His feet had been carrying him down the familiar path to LeBlanc almost without him realizing it. He’d barely been aware of the scenery, he was so lost in his memories. But now he had to stop. There was no way he _couldn’t_ stop after seeing… well, _that._

“This place is new,” was all Akira managed to say. 

Shiho stopped next to him and followed his gaze. They were standing right outside a small shop. If Akira remembered right, it was around where some old tourist trap had been. Maybe it was still a tourist trap. But the store looked nothing like it once had. The window display had been draped completely in red and black. The usual dumb replicas of tourist stops had been replaced by dolls and posters and t-shirts… all bearing the images of the Phantom Thieves. 

“Oh, yeah…” Shiho mused. “I kind of remember those guys. They were all over the news last year, weren’t they? Like anti-political rogues or something, right?” 

Akira would have laughed if he weren’t so stunned. “Yeah, something like that.” 

He couldn’t stop staring at the plush Joker. Damn, it was creepy looking at a doll of yourself… especially since there were no eyes behind the mask. Just black stitches obscuring the character’s face. 

It took him another minute to fully realize that he was a _character_ now. And so were all his friends. 

This was just _weird…_

“Guess they were popular enough for a little franchise,” Shiho went on. “Didn’t they turn out to be some sort of Robin Hood deal? I remember that detective going after them. Adachi or something, right?”

Akira winced. “Akechi.” 

Akira scanned the window again. There weren’t any dolls of Crow. It was like Akechi had never existed. To be fair, he hadn’t been there a little less than a year ago. In that final battle. There was no way he could have been. And he had never been a Phantom Thief. Not really. 

But it still seemed an injustice.

Morgana must have woken up, because abruptly Akira found himself with a cat on his head. 

“So _that’s_ why we stopped,” the cat mewed. “Don’t blame you. It’s actually pretty sweet. Let’s go in. I totally want a Mona bean bag!” 

Before Akira could find a way to subtly tell Morgana that going in there was probably a terrible idea—and that he really did not want to spend any of his hard-earned money on a Mona bean bag—the shop door opened and a pair of people walked out. They seemed to be a mother and daughter. The daughter held a merchandise bag. 

“Well, I’m running out of excuses for Ann,” Shiho declared as the mother and daughter started heading down the street. “We should probably keep going. Unless you think you can find a good gift for Nijima-san in there?”

The mental image of Makoto wearing an “official” Phantom Thieves t-shirt made Akira burst out laughing. 

“Nah,” he managed. “Let’s go.” 

They both turned, continuing on their path back toward LeBlanc. 

But they had only walked a few steps when someone grabbed the sleeve of Akira’s winter coat, stopping him in his tracks. 

“Um… excuse me?” 

Akira turned. The little girl stood there, holding her shopping bag to her chest. Akira glanced around for the mother. She was talking to someone on her phone, but keeping an eye on her child. The little girl just kept looking up at Akira with a sort of awe. 

Akira crouched down, meeting the girl’s eye. “Hi.”

“H-hi,” stuttered the girl. 

Akira smiled. “Is something wrong?” 

“N-no.” The girl’s cheeks turned pink. She looked down at her shoes. “You… you look a lot like Joker.” 

Akira gasped. Morgana meowed loudly. 

“Really!” the girl cried defensively. “Look!” 

She pulled a Joker postcard out of her bag and shoved it in Akira’s face. Akira reared back, startled. 

“It’s just like you!” the girl declared. She was pouting sort of adorably. 

“I-I guess, yeah,” Akira admitted.

The little girl leaned closer to Akira, clearly wanting to say something private. Akira had to tune Morgana’s extremely vocal protests out to hear the girl’s next words.

“Joker’s my favorite. He’s the bravest and the smartest. I wanna be just like him when I grow up.” 

Akira gasped. There was no possible way to respond to that. 

The mother called the girl’s name. The little girl glanced back for a split second before shoving the postcard into Akira’s hands. 

“I had two,” the girl said self-consciously. “Merry Christmas!” 

Before Akira could even start to protest, the little girl had rushed back to her mother’s side. They disappeared into the snow. 

“That was weird,” Shiho declared. 

“Definitely,” Akira agreed. 

Shiho glanced at the postcard still in Akira’s hand. “Well. Guess she really wanted you to have that, huh?”

“Yeah.” 

Shiho shrugged and tapped at her phone again. “I’m totally ready for some coffee. We’re close, right?” 

It took Akira a moment to remember what she was talking about. “Yeah. Pretty close. Let’s go.” 

As he led the way back to LeBlanc, he couldn’t help but wonder if his old room was still open. If Sojiro had even so much as touched it. He hoped that it was mostly the same as when he had left. He had another souvenir to put on his wall now. 

Another great memory from Joker the Phantom Thief. 

On second thought, maybe Makoto would like a gift like this after all. At least he had a story to tell her when he finally saw her again. 

Akira couldn’t help but grin. She was _definitely_ going to be surprised. They all were. He couldn’t wait to see the looks on their faces when he showed up. 

And he couldn’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they heard about the Phantom Shop.


End file.
